Felices Fiestas 2020!

On the one hand I thought 2020 would never end; on the other hand it is ending and with a glimmer of hope in the form of vaccines for the Covid-19 virus. Maybe by this time next year things will be closer to normal. Curfews have gone away in Guatemala as have closed borders and travel restrictions. The airport is open although inbound passengers have to provide a negative Covid test in order to board a flight into the country. Miraculously, cases here have not increased as a result of easing the restrictions. That is likely the result of several possibilities: the government is lying about the numbers although it is a fact that the biggest public hospital in Guatemala City is less than half occupied, we live outdoors for the most part and/or the virus has not been politicized thus most everyone wears a mask because they don't want to die. Plain and simple.

The three children who have been living in my house since March seem to be thriving. They all ended the school year successfully. Mishell, 12, had an "outstanding" progress report after two years of possibly being held back. She is a budding pastry chef and, as I write, my kitchen is covered with cookies and the refrigerator is full of dough for the next batch. They eat the cookies almost as fast as they make them which means they just have to make more. A year ago Mishell did not have much to say and was hiding inside of a hoodie. Today she is a very different person and was very proud to graduate from primary school last month.

Mishell receiving her sixth grade certificado.

Diego turned eighteen in November and we celebrated his transition to being an adult. He has now received his DPI which is the national identity card and has opened a bank account. As of last weekend he is working as a waiter in a beer garden run by the father of the fellow he traveled with last year. Diego is quite charming and social so he has already gotten good reviews and good tips. And he is seeing that being bilingual is a huge bonus too. He is depositing his earnings into his bank account. 

Sebastian and Diego slaving away at the El Azote Beer Garden

Cristofer, now fourteen, has leaped into adolescence. A year ago Mishell was a head taller than him. He is now even with her and his voice has changed. He helps Mishell in the kitchen. He is just generally very helpful. One night over dinner I asked the three how they would feel if they spent a couple of hours in the kitchen cooking dinner every night while everyone else was in the living room, on the internet, with the doors closed. Cristofer quickly responded with "really bad." So, now they cook three nights a week and it has been mostly edible. I print recipes for things that are of interest to them (forced reading in English). I am regularly surprised at how competent these one time toddlers have become. Cristofer was four when his father (who in reality was not much of one) walked out of his life and into prison. That is an especially tough age for a kid to lose a parent as they can't really understand much. I worry that in his soul Cristofer thinks that his father went away because he was a bad boy. He is actually a very good boy and falls apart at the suggestion that he might have erred in any way so I am very careful. 

Cristofer helping with the Christmas cookies.

Since March their mother has passed by once for about four minutes to see her children. I don't ask any questions. All I know is that they seem happy in my house. A friend who used to arrange adoptions and has a slew of kids as a result of the adoptions being stopped told me, "you don't know what they left behind and they do." They talk to family members on a regular basis and occasionally their mother will leave something with the guards for them. But, she doesn't make any effort to see them. Is it Covid or is it something else? There is a lot that I don't understand. Mishell just asked if they could spend New Years' Eve at their aunt's house with their cousins and their mother. I would rather they did not but have reluctantly relented and will keep my distance after they return. Diego has been to the aunt's house a couple of times with no ill effects.

An out of work physical education teacher comes three days a week and all three are now ready to swim competitively. A year ago Cristofer would not venture into the deep end of the pool and would only swim across the shallow end. Now he is beating his siblings in swimming competitions. Once a week I pick up Beyer, who is four, and Liam, who is seven. They too are both swimming much to the surprise of their mothers and grandmother, none of whom can swim. 

Fearless Beyker

Since school ended we have been able escape our confinement with several days at Lake Átitlan and a couple of days at the beach where the ever reluctant Cristofer got up on a surf board on his first try. 

Diego and Denis kayaking on Lake Átitlan

Surfing lessons at the beach

We were able to do our annual trek to get a Christmas tree. This year we went to a place that was more of a family operation than the somewhat slick place we have gone to in the past. Everyone agreed that the family operation with the not quite perfect trees was just fine, even better. The tree only fell down once this year but Denis raced over on his motorcycle and, with the help of some wooden blocks donated by neighbors, got the thing upright again. Beyker wanted to know "exactly" when Santa Claus was coming. Santa Claus is a neighbor who suits up and reports after he gets a WhatsApp message. This year we are privileged as Santa has declined all of his other gigs because of the virus. I promised him homemade eggnog with a shot of rum, endless Christmas cookies by Mishell and Christmas face masks for all. 

Guatemalan Christmas tree farm

Beyker decorating the tree.

Beyker and Liam taking their work very seriously.

Vaccines are due here during the first quarter of 2021 and I am hoping that my age will push me towards the front of the line. Schools are going to reopen on the seventh of January in a hybrid format. The school that the five younger kids attend will have the first two weeks online to ensure that the holidays have not caused a spike in cases. Following that the hybrid format will involve two campuses thus the kids will all go to school every day but in two different locations. Half will be at the school campus and the other half a quarter of a mile away in the same coffee farm. Gladly, the school has a lot of space and many classes are held outdoors. Fingers crossed. 

Astrid, who works for a call center in my basement most nights, has shifted gears and now hopes to start law school in January. That is a three year course versus the ten years needed to become a doctor. Perhaps, she has finally realized that she has a child that she is not yet supporting. Denis was hoping to start studying physical therapy in the same university in January but the program was oversubscribed so he will have to wait another year. Denis is a wonderful tío, uncle, to Beyker and Liam. He is everything their mothers are not: tranquilo and patient. The boys adore him.

Maggie the goat has become very well known around Finca La Azotea for her antics. Recently, another goat arrived and the two were quite obviously thrilled to have another goat companion. It remains to be seen what kind of trouble they will get in together. Only this morning they were found eating the flowers in one of the finca's gardens. Gladly, they don't like coffee plants. 

Maggie, in her holiday finery, and her new pal, Snow White

It is difficult to see the poor waving white flags indicating that they are hungry and need food on one side of the street and a Ferrari parked across from them. My hope for 2021 is that we can start addressing the issue of inequality which seems to be rampant. My other hope is that the virus denying politicians who insisted on having the vaccine before front line health workers will have to answer to karma very soon.

Inequality is very difficult to deal with. 

Liam wishes you all a very happy holiday season and a much brighter 2021!

Felices Fiestas as we say in Guatemala and I am looking forward to "liberty and justice for all" in 2021!

Here are two versions of this year's Christmas photo of the whole group. Gladly, there has been no increase in the numbers of late.

L to R, Cris, 14, Astrid, 21, Beyker, 4, Jackie, 24, Liam, 7, Diego, 18
Second Row, Denis 23, Mishell, 12

Same order, Covid-19 version

Day Eighty Four

Today it is gray and it feels gray. For the third weekend in a row we were under a twenty-four hour curfew. No one except emergency personal and food delivery people were allowed outside from five o'clock Friday afternoon until five o'clock Monday morning. With five mouths to feed it does require a bit of advance planning. The first such weekend curfew started at five o'clock on a Friday morning having being announced at seven thirty the evening before. Clearly, there was no opportunity for anyone to prepare or stock up. Gladly, I had enough food in the house to last for three days; we only ran out of fruit. The following Monday there was chaos in the stores as people were not only replenishing but stocking up in the event of another closure without notice. The strict measures are a result of an increase in cases, many of which were imported by deportees from the United States, and the fragile state of the public health system which, simply, cannot cope with a large outbreak. It is likely that there are more cases as, like most of the states in the US, there are not enough tests available but the numbers are not bad when you understand that the population of Guatemala is slightly less than that of New York state.

In a country where some seventy-five percent of the population live below the poverty line the closure of the country has been very hard for many. The government has been distributing boxes of food to those too poor to have electricity in their homes. Those who use less than some nominal amount of electricity are entitled to a monthly bono familia, or family bonus, of about $135. They can access this money using an ATM or, in some stores. Families that need food are asked to fly a white flag and many do. Many ex-patriates are raising funds and delivering food, accompanied by the authorities, during curfew to families in need. Others, like myself, keep a supply of non-perishable food in the car to hand out as needed. 

At some point the president of Guatemala, a medical doctor, announced that people over sixty years of age should remain at home all the time. I understand that he wants to protect the elders however it is not always practical. The local grocery stores are not "carding" anyone but, if you look like you could be sixty or more you are invited to bypass the socially distanced line so age does have its benefits. Pricesmart (Costco to those of you in the US) is enforcing the president's directive so many of us are having to rely on personal shoppers for Pricesmart. Masks are mandatory and everyone is wearing one, even the occasional drunk passed out in an alley. The country's borders are closed as is the airport except for ICE Airways bringing the infected deportees. There are still occasional repatriation flights for those wanting to leave but no good way into the country.

The children's school has stepped up to the challenge and school is in session as it once was. The only difference is that the classes are held on Zoom. The good news is that all three children seem engaged by their classes that include, for the younger ones, gardening and art. Mishell has planted chard seeds and will soon have to transplant them into the garden. Cristofer is brewing kombucha and some other mysteries in the kitchen.

The board of directors of the school, of which I am a member, has concluded that schools will likely not open again until January which is the start of the Guatemalan school year. We are encouraging the school administration to plan for that eventuality and if it doesn't come to pass, so much the better.  Gladly, the physical layout of the school, including all the green space and access to a seventy-five-acre coffee farm, will lend itself well to the social distancing concept. We feel fortunate that the school is in a good position to weather this storm for a number of reasons. It is very likely that others may not.

This past week the school hosted a "publication party" in which parents were invited to participate. Students read aloud projects that they were writing. Cristofer wrote an interesting story about a poor, homeless boy. It was two pages without a single punctuation mark or capital letter. We just had a conversation about punctuation and he is doing some editing. Diego, the dreamer who is still mourning the loss of his first girlfriend well over a year ago, did a presentation on love. All three are very reluctant readers probably because books and reading were not part of their early years. If they  would read, writing would be a lot easier. Parents and guardians were invited to attend the publication party using Zoom. I tried to participate in two classes simultaneously using two different devices.

Beyker, who will be four on the seventh of June is totally captivated by his Zoom pre-school classes. He uses his grandmother's phone or an old iPad of mine to attend school and he has had to show his abuela how Zoom works.

One bonus of being advised, even forced, to stay home is that the ever enterprising Guatemalans have quickly started delivery services. And interestingly, beautiful produce that we have never seen before as it has been exported, now comes to the door. Perfect avocados, boxes of heritage tomatoes, perfectly ripe strawberries, just picked broccoli and cauliflower, mangos and much more. The pork butcher in nearby Ciudad Vieja delivers to the door as does the purveyor of fresh, organic chickens. The fish-man still comes every Monday with shrimp so big that I wish Estela was here to clean them. And, of course and thankfully, there is a wine distributor in Guatemala City that delivers several times a week.

The children are remarkable. It is likely that the younger three are probably painfully aware that if I tired of them they would have no place to go. But on the other hand they are really nice kids. They have taken on chores with no complaints. Several times a day one or the other of them will ask, "is there anything you would like me to do?" They put out the trash without being asked. They clean. They do their own laundry. And they "put" the table each night before dinner. I tell them that in English we say "set the table." After my houseguest left on a repatriation flight they volunteered to take over doing the dinner dishes. Very soon I found a chart stuck to the kitchen wall detailing which of them was supposed to do what on which night.

Many of us in Guatemala are following very closely the work of a local hero who is now the founder and president of a biotech company, Distributed Bio, in San Francisco. Dr. Jacob Glanville, "Jake" to those of us who know the family was born and raised in Santiago Átitlan, on the shores of Lake Átitlan where his parents owned a very popular hotel, the Posada de Santiago. Jake graduated from Berkeley and was the first recipient of a PhD from Stanford in computational immuno engineering. At Stanford he was a two-time Gates Foundation Scholar. He is featured in the Netflix's series, Pandemic, which, coincidentally, was released the day before the first coronavirus death was reported in China. Jake and his team have succeeded in "engineering" antibodies from the SARS vaccine to neutralize Covid-19. They have sent the antibodies to five different independent labs for testing to ensure that the labs got the same results. And yes, they did so now the testing has moved on to hamsters and, if all goes well, they hope to start human trials this summer. This is not a vaccine but a treatment for people who are sick with the virus. Jake and his team are optimistic that it could be available as early as September. If you are interested in knowing more google "Dr. Jacob Glanville" and check out his videos on YouTube. Here is a link to a short one that explains the work better than I can. Dr. Jacob Glanville.

In the meantime during the curfew hours Antigua is virtually deserted. This week the curfew is being relaxed slightly, no longer twenty-four hours on the weekends but from six in the evening to five in the morning every day.

But, except for grocery shopping and checking on the horse and the goat we are staying home and wearing masks whenever we leave the house. We hope you are too.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

The Silence is Deafening

Antigua without traffic

A week into the four o'clock curfew I find myself wishing that there was a way to photograph the silence. Not a car, a bus, a motorcycle, not even a siren, gladly. And it is also very dark at night as only eleven of the thirty-five houses in my gated community are occupied. Rather than stay here where, so far, the virus is fairly well contained and the sun is shining every day, many fled back to the cold places they had been escaping from on evacuation flights. Friends renting across the street returned to Ground Zero, New York City. I fear for them. The US state department advised that everyone should come home. Why? In Guatemala we have been locked down at home for two weeks since before there was a single confirmed case. We are expecting more weeks of lockdown and curfew. In fact, an extension of the restrictions until April 12th was just announced.

As of today there are thirty-four confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the country. The majority are related to the one fatality, an eighty-five year old man with underlying health issues who had traveled from Spain. Ten of the thirty-four have tested negative twice and thus have been classified as recovered. They are still in quarantine, however. Thus, there are twenty-three active cases, all related to travel and only one is classified as serious. This, of course, might well change by tomorrow.

The Guatemalan government has created an app for cell phones, Alerta Guate, in order to be in constant contact with the entire population. One gets an alert whenever there is news; the alert can be translated into any number of languages. There is also an "SOS" button for immediate contact with the authorities as necessary.

In order to shop at Pricesmart (Costco) one has to wait in line on lines on the floor six feet apart. When you get to go in someone sprays the handle of the cart with Lysol, another person takes your temperature and asks you to use the bottle of hand sanitizer. There is plenty of stock including toilet paper. The president is frequently on television reminding people that eighty-percent of the cases are very mild but to be safe everyone must stay home and wash their hands. If one has problems breathing they need to call one of two special 4-digit phone numbers. A government team will go to the house, assess and administer a test if warranted. If positive for the virus the person is transferred to a special hospital. The president is earnest, honest and forthright. For the first time in decades people are praising the president of Guatemala.

Cris and Diego serving up tacos.

As for my house, it is full. A week or so before the lockdown started Diego told me that there were (again) problems in his house. He seldom spends more than an hour or two in the house he calls home. For all practical purposes he is living in my basement which has a stronger internet signal than his assigned bedroom.

Before his grandmother died, a year or so ago, she apparently confessed to one of her daughters that her husband, Diego's beloved grandfather, was not the father of Diego's mother. The daughter to whom she told her secret unwisely decided to share it with the rest of the family. Diego's uncle who lives in the family home and may well have an alcohol problem decided that his father should no longer be supporting someone who was not his daughter nor her three children. Diego reported that when the uncle was drinking he said very cruel things to Marielos in front of Cristofer and Mishell. He told me that he was worried about them. After a week long family conference it was decided that Marielos would move out. Supposedly, she will rent a room from a friend in a nearby community. And, Diego, told me somewhat hesitantly, that Cristofer and Mishell would be staying at my house along with their brother. He told me that they would be moving in on Monday, which coincided with the start of the Corona Virus lockdown. I said that I would pick them up as I did not want them taking a crowded bus. Diego told me that they would be ready at ten. I pulled up to the house and the two children came out carrying most of their worldly possessions in four backpacks. I did not see their mother nor their grandfather, no one from their family. They were happy and laughing. I was confused but refrained from asking any questions. I did not want them to feel uncomfortable. I was happy that the lockdown would keep the mother from showing up at my house every night at dinner time as she had done the last time that she had dropped off her kids, several years before.

Gladly, a friend who lives in Connecticut had arrived a couple of days before the lockdown started. Well over two weeks ago she had had her temperature taken by health officials who had boarded the airplane in Guatemala City. Jen, a university Spanish teacher and author of children's books in Spanish had wanted to visit a family at Lake Átitlan whom she had written about. She also had a workshop scheduled at the Antigua Green School working with kids who were interested in writing. Neither of those things happened as the evening she arrived the president announced the closing of the schools and most everything else including public transportation. What luck to have a teacher good with kids stranded in my house. There have been expensive evacuation flights sponsored by the state department but, gladly, Jen has opted not to return to her home near what might be the worst outbreak of the Corona Virus on the planet.

Mishell attending online classes

As the household help also has had to stay home we created a chore list. Everyone has some chores. I am in charge of making food available three times a day. Jen is doing the clean up and helped the kids get set up on Zoom for their online classes which started almost immediately. Cristofer feeds the dogs and cats in the evening and does some watering of the garden. Mishell is in charge of keeping the water filters full and Diego, watering the hanging plants and pots and washing the vehicles.

We have more or less settled into a routine. As the first one up I walk the dogs, feed the two dogs, two cats and three goldfish. Then I head upstairs to the terrace with a large cup of coffee where one thinks nothing can go wrong. I check the news but not too much as I am very annoyed that most of the news from the states is horrible with little mention of people who have tossed off the Corona Virus or stories of people helping other people. Here there are two animal rescue groups who are feeding the street dogs who rely on the now shuttered restaurants and the kindness of humans to survive. One group is buying the food with donations and is having the bomberos, volunteer firemen, distribute the food as they are allowed to be on the streets after curfew. The president has organized food distributions to the poor and to the students who rely on meals at their schools. Local corporations are donating money and supplies for the construction of temporary hospitals. There is an economic reactivation plan in place which includes infrastructure projects that will generate jobs.

Bread by Diego

Once everyone is up and fed breakfast there is school work. The three kids all seem to enjoy their Zoom classes as they can connect with their teachers and friends. Surprisingly, all three have expressed an interest in cooking. Diego is learning how to bake bread, Mishell makes way too many Snickerdoodles, likely because she has mastered the whole process. We are hoping to wean her into something with less sugar. Cristofer wants to learn how to fix dinner. One day he proudly held up a bag of pasta that he found in the kitchen and announced that we would have pasta that night. He did get a little help with the sauce and meatballs. The next night he was the sous chef for roast chicken, baked potatoes and broccoli, his favorite food.

Broccoli by Cristofer

Gladly, March is one of the better months weather wise. The sun shines most of the time and the temperature during the day is about eighty degrees, a temperature that is apparently fatal to the Corona Virus. I have a pool that is holding a temperature of about eighty-three degrees so we use the pool a lot for much needed exercise. Diego is very much seventeen and is still finding his place in the human race. Without some prodding he will spend the day in the basement playing video games. The basement is now off limits during the day and he is required to swim, ride his bicycle or play some soccer with his siblings at least once a day.

Escaping from the Corona Virus

We have access to a large coffee farm which houses my miniature horse and his companion goat, Maggie. As long as we pass a temperature check, we can enter the farm which is closed to the public.  The kids can run, ride bikes and spend time with a few friends at a respectable social distance. Jen is giving Diego driving lessons at the farm where one can drive around with little risk on the dirt roads and practice parking and backing up in the empty parking lot.

Mini and Maggie

Diego practicing his driving among the coffee plants.

We are home before the four o'clock curfew. Because my house is in a gated community we can still go out and walk the dogs and the kids can kick a soccer ball around. Laundry, gardening, cleaning and cooking occupy the hours later in the day. We have a sit-down dinner, which is very new to these children, and talk about the day, the restrictions, their feelings about the Corona Virus, what they would like to do the next day, etc. Mishell is reading books using my Kindle account on an old tablet. The boys refuse to be weaned from their video games though last evening Cristofer came into my room with a horrified look on his face saying, "the internet is out." I explained that a book is a good substitute for the internet. He shook his head. I offered a board game but he thought it was too late.

Today I picked up Astrid and Beyker in their village and all of the kids spent a couple of hours in the pool. Beyker, at three and a half, accepted the challenge to jump off the bridge into the pool.

Beyker takes a leap

Starting Monday Astrid will be "working from home" in my basement. She has been working for a call center and saving money to go to university next year. It is a good thing that she did not go this year as the academic year will likely be lost. As her call center is in Guatemala City she said that she was going to quit. She is good and fearless so they pleaded with her not to quit. The call center agreed to give her a computer to work from home but since her home has no internet it will be my home. Now there will be six places at the table as she finishes after curfew and thus cannot go home. Astrid was fielding customer and driver calls for Lyft and since Lyft seems to have disappeared she will be fielding calls starting Monday for Instacart which is apparently doing a lot better than Lyft right now. Some thirty people in the call center have been reassigned to Instacart.


My biggest concern is around eating three times a day along with an endless supply of Snickerdoodles, bread and wine. But one has to do what has to be done to get through this very unusual situation. So far, so good. I try not to think about what another month of this is going to feel like. I hope you all are hunkered down and staying safe.

Maggie the goat says "wash your hands."